We have gotten entirely away from content. If you go to the McGuffy Readers, they didn't teach "critical thinking." They taught straight up morals, patriotism, Biblical truths, etc. The notion that you can teach "critical thinking" outside of a vast body FIRST of information and basics, is flawed.
The fact is, when we taught "only" facts, we had far smarter and more innovative people (on the whole) than we do today.
Further, "critical thinking" ALWAYS assumes two points of view, that any position has "some validity" that we must "critically analyze." Well, no. Once a truth is established as a truth, you don't continually revisit it. We don't test anew gravity every year (ie., seeking to prove it). It is now a building block upon which we rest other ideas.
So I'm extremely skeptical of teaching "critical thinking" as an end. If you teach content correctly people will learn to think critically.
Having taught each of my four sons to read via McGuffey Readers, I must emphatically disagree. McGuffey did not teach straight up morals, etc., he offered well written literary pieces that illustrated proper behavior--behavior that actually worked for the benefit of the doer, his family & community; and foolish behavior that did not work--at least not for good--so that the child learned the critical thinking behind the ancient truths being illustrated.
The present debased educational structure does not work that way. Rather it assumes undemonstrated--and clearly false premises--that are treated as sacrosanct. The result, instead of the principled youth of McGuffey's day, we have the chanting Egalitarian automatons at a 2008 Obama rally, chanting in unison for changing America. The automatons may be on the attack, but they most certainly do not illustrate "critical thinking."
William Flax